After reading about all these yummy-sounding products, I went over to lowcarboutlet.com and punched in for Zbar and CarbSlim chocolate caramel--they display the nutritional counts and ingredients lists. Unfortunately, both these particular products have inulin and sucralose as well as erythritol, so I won't be able to tell if erythritol works for me or not, will I--I mean, if something bothers my system after eating one of them, how will I know if it's the erythritol, the inulin, or the sucralose? I'm used to stevia alone!

It may be that I'll have to buy erythritol and make something on my own (as I mentioned). Still, I must say--these products sound mighty tempting!

Best, Sona

CarbSense and MiniCarb are the same company, but different products are branded under the two names, hence the confusion. The name of the bar in question is At Last!, and I found them at Kroger the other day. I had the chocolate truffle bar, and it was rather good -- very similar to the Russell Stover truffle cups, if you've ever had those.

Atlee, thank you! I found At Last! bars and was able to get the nutritional info on them, as follows:

Erythritol (Eridex), inulin, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, calcium carbonate, sodium caseinate, milk fat, natural and artificial flavors, soya lecithin, maltodextrin, sucrolose, magnesium oxide, zinc citrate, chromium chloride, peanut butter (maltitol, peanuts, paritally hydrogenated palm, cottonseed, and rapeseed oils, coconut oil, fractionated palm kernel oil, sodium caseinate, milk fat, glycerol-lacto esters of fatty acids, soy lecithin, citric acid, vanillin, natural flavor.

I'm a bit concerned about the "partially hydrogenated palm etc. oils"--and, of course, there's the inulin, maltodextrin, and sucralose in them as well as erythritol.

I'm beginning to think that there must be something about working with erythritol that requires the addition of these other sweeteners/thickeners or whatever they are--that erythritol alone doesn't create a sweet treat that can stand on its own.

I guess I'll have to find that out by myself! Thanks so much, Atlee.

Best, sona

That doesn't look like Splenda-only to me. I see at least two kinds of sugar alcohols listed in there. Are we talking about the same thing as Andrea's Splenda-only bar?

No, they are apparently not the same thing. I think the 2 thoughts got combined into one somewhere. The MiniCarb bar ingredients are:

Chocolate Liquor, Polydextrose (fiber), Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Powder, Soy Lecithan, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sucralose, Vanilla.

That's on the plain dark chocolate. I can't tell you what is in the other 2 varieties because I didn't try them.

Thanks Andrea. I have got to find those somewhere! A LC chocolate bar without ANY sugar alcohols is my Holy Grail right now.

If you find them in a store somewhere, let me know. I have checked EVERYWHERE and I would feel silly calling to have nothing but a bunch of chocolate shipped to me.

Andrea, by "minicarb" do you mean the "CarbSlim Bites" you were talking about earlier in the thread? The caramel flavor you mentioned you like?

(These are, of course, not the same as the At Last! bars Atlee was telling me about.)

Best, Sona

No, the CarbSlim bites are a different thing. Those are the ones I bought to test the impact of erythritol. The MiniCarb bars have no SAs at all.

Okay, thanks--I do wish these companies would stop naming their products so that one sounds pretty much like another! Drives me a bit cuckoo-- CarbSense, CarbRite, Carbolite, MiniCarb, CarbSlim... "Aunt Susan" would be a nice name, don't you think?

Best, Sona

At this point in my pregnancy, I am so not concerned with feeling silly if there were chocolate involved! I'm going to check the local LC store and see if I can luck up and find these. I'm trying so hard to be good and avoid sugar alcohols "just in case," but may have to break down and buy a ZCarb bar one of these days.

okay i can't keep quiet here...with sugar alcohols, if you're sensitive to them at first and you would like to be able to eat them...eat a little bit at first. slowly increase the amount you're eating...the body actually adjusts to sugar alcohol.

when you ingest a decent amount of something completely new to the body, it always reacts. that is what you are experiencing. i can tell you honestly that the body adjusts...i am absolutely amazed at how much sugar alcohol my body can handle now. 20g per day was at one time too much...now i can have about double that with NO side effects.